Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski looks on in the first half during the semifinals of the Midwest regional of the 2013 NCAA tournament. / Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports

by Steve Berkowitz, USA TODAY Sports

by Steve Berkowitz, USA TODAY Sports

Few college coaches have won like Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. It is likely that none has been paid like him.

Krzyzewski was credited with nearly $9.7 million in compensation during the 2011 calendar year, according to the university's new federal tax return.

That's the greatest single-year compensation total for a college coach since USA TODAY Sports began tracking pay of football and men's basketball coaches in 2006. Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino totaled a little more than $8.9 million in 2010-11.

Krzyzewski earned more than $7.2 million in the 2010 calendar year, and just less than $4.7 million in 2009.

The new return reports Krzyzewski's compensation as follows:

$1,978,401 in base pay, nearly the same as what he received in 2010.

$5,642,574 in bonus and incentive compensation, nearly $1.9 million more than in 2010.

$1,982,097 in retirement and other deferred compensation, a little over $500,000 more than in 2010. (This is money that Krzyzewski accrued, but was not paid, in 2011; he could receive it in a future year.)

$59,616 in other reportable compensation such as family travel.

$19,344 in non-taxable benefits.

.As a private school, Duke is not required to make public its employment contracts.

Duke vice president for public affairs and government relations Michael Schoenfeld, who provided the return in response to a request from USA Today Sports, said the university does not comment on individual contracts.

However, in addressing Krzyzewski's overall compensation, he said: "By any measure, Coach K is one of the greatest, if not thegreatest, college coach of all-time. This takes into account his 33 years of service at Duke, his unparalleled success as a head coach â?? in 2011 he became the winningest (NCAA Division I) head coach of all-time â?? his commitment to the academic achievement of the student-athletes and to Duke University."

Krzyzewski has won four national titles and made 11 Final Four appearances.

Overall, including the 2012-13 season, Krzyzewski has a 957-297 career record in 38 seasons, including an 884-238 mark in 33 seasons at Duke.

The tax return notes that $775,000 of Krzyzewski's $9,682,032 total for 2011 was reported as deferred compensation on a prior year's tax return or returns; it does not provide details about amounts or years.

Kentucky coach John Calipari was paid more than $5.4 million for the 2012-13 season, not including bonuses. Louisville's Rick Pitino and Kansas' Bill Self each made nearly $5 million. Among football coaches, Alabama's Nick Saban made nearly $5.5 million for the 2012 season, Texas' Mack Brown almost $5.4 million.

But it is difficult to directly compare the compensation of private school employees to that of public school employees.

For its surveys of athletics compensation, USA TODAY Sports bases compensation totals for public-school employees on current-year or current-season figures found in contracts, NCAA-mandated outside-income forms and other documents it obtains through open-records requests.

It does not include the value of standard employee benefits or potentially taxable perks like tickets, country club memberships or family travel. In addition, USA TODAY Sports reports the maximum amount of bonuses that potentially can be earned during the applicable year or season.

However, depending on the terms of the contract, the figures for total pay that USA TODAY Sports reports do include the amounts of certain forms of deferred compensation based on when they are accrued rather than paid.

Because private schools decline to make their contracts available, USA TODAY Sports cannot make determinations about whether to include certain forms of deferred compensation.

So, for private schools, USA TODAY Sports' totals are based on totals reported in the schools' federal tax records -- and those totals include the value of all taxable benefits and the amounts of bonuses actually paid (private schools are not required to disclose their employees' NCAA-mandated athletically related outside income forms).

Because the schools are organized as non-profit organizations, they must annually file a tax return that includes information about the pay of their most highly compensated employees. Although the returns mostly cover fiscal years that involve parts of two calendar years, the IRS requires that the compensation reporting cover the most recently completed calendar year.

Because of the complexity of their returns, large colleges and universities routinely take filing extensions that result in a significant time lag between the period covered by their most recent return and the date they file.

In Duke's case, the return it filed this week covers a tax year from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012, making 2011 the most recently completed calendar year and, thus, the one used for reporting Krzyzewski's compensation.